'The World' quickly progressed into a state of intense activity, players joining in droves as the game's popularity skyrocketed. As more players joined, Skeith's annoyance increased. Some of the more experienced players had come across him in areas, and knew well enough avoid him. Even players at higher levels than their enemies seemed to always die whenever he was around. As a result, they avoided him in Root Towns, which was the good part. On the other hand, newer players found him in Root Towns and began bothering him to join their party. He replied with a glare, and that was all he needed to send them running.

"My, my, aren't we moody today," someone chuckled as he sent a female Wavemaster running around a corner, "A glare from you would be enough to scare anyone."

Skeith turned his head to direct his glare at the speaker, but relaxed into a moderate annoyance when he saw who it was. "What do you want, Tarvos?"

Tarvos shivered. "For you not to glare at me like that again, for one," she cringed. "I came to check up on you."

"You didn't need to."

"Also," she added, ignoring his comments, "I needed to get away from Magus. I've been hanging around with him for the past few weeks, and he's been getting on my nerves."

"And?"

Tarvos switched their conversation to Whisper Mode. "Have you heard of the Cobalt Knights?"

"No. Why?"

"They work for CC Corp., the guys running the game. They're debuggers, and they hunt Vagrant AIs."

Skeith raised an eyebrow. "And?"

"We're Vagrant AI," she pointed out, jabbing at his chest with on finger, "They may come after us. Sooner or later, someone will realize that we're not a normal part of the system. Hell, it's plainly obvious! Our job classes and character models aren't part of this version!"

"Calm down, Tarvos."

"How can I calm down! We could be deleted for all you care!"

He rolled his eyes. "Tarvos they're no threat to us. We surpass the system. Even if they try to, we can just Data Drain them."

Data Drain was the most powerful attack in their arsenal, allowing them to degrade and alter data by reverting it back to a less harmful form. Used on a player, it could have harmful effects, but nothing more severe than temporary unconsciousness.

Tarvos didn't look convinced. "They have the Divine Spear of Wotan."

"I see..."

The Divine Spear of Wotan was a powerful weapon from the game's beta version, 'fragment'. It was created by Harald with a special debugging function, presumably used to delete failed programs from his incomplete work. In the right hands, it could effectively be used against some of the Phases, but others had natural resistances to it. Skeith was one with a resistance; Tarvos was not.

"All I can say to you is to keep a low profile. Don't attract too much attention and you won't get reported."

Tarvos frowned, folding her arms. "Easy for you to say..."

"Well, what do you expect me to do? Go out and get rid of it for you? That would just attract more attention to us, and it would interfere with our work. I've giving you all the help I can."

"Thanks anyway," she sighed, taking them out of their private conversation, "Take care of yourself, Skeith."

He grunted, turning back to the waterway, his red eyes reflecting back off the water at him.

As more and more people joined 'The World', it became harder for Skeith to work on the Delta server. The newer players began teaming up with more experienced players, helping to decrease the difficulty of gaining the first few levels. There wasn't anything Skeith could do about that, so he frequently switched servers to make up for it. Experienced players easily became overconfident and underestimated the level jump between servers, making the higher-level servers better to work on.

The Lambda server, Carmina Gadelica, was one of Skeith's most frequent servers to visit. The level gap between it and the Delta server, his other haunt, made it ideal, and a lot of shadier business went on there. The atmosphere it set made 'The Terror of Death' comfortable in an otherwise alien environment.

On one of his trips, a red-clothed figure caught his eyes as the Chaos Gate warped him in. Fidchell gave him a slight smirk when he walked over, but didn't open his eyes or look over at him. "We are all together, and yet, divided. The time will come when we pick sides."

Skeith stared blankly at him. "Huh?"

"You'll see. The trend is forming. When the time comes, and the sides are set, the actions of each side will decide the future of this world. And you shall be the one to decide its direction."

"Can't you talk straight for once?"

"Not even once. I'm 'The Prophet' for a reason," Fidchell replied with a smile before he turned and warped out, the Chaos Gate glowing in his wake.

Skeith followed his departure with his eyes, mentally complaining and rolling the 'prophecy' over in his head. Suddenly, something hit him with enough force to send him sprawling. People around the Chaos Gate stared at him and his attacker, and his shout of alarm was heard half way across the Root Town. He tried to push himself up, attempting to use his momentum to throw whoever it was off, but they leaned on his shoulders, pushing him back down.

Finally, he managed to slide part of his upper body out from under them, and sat up to glare. "Macha, get off me, or Morganna will need a vacuum to pick up all your pieces."

Macha giggled and jumped off him, her ears twitching happily as though she didn't see his glare. When he was finally standing, she clung to his arm.

"What are you doing?"

"What?" she pouted childishly, "I can't be happy to see you?"

He frowned. "You can be happy without tackling me and clinging to me."

Giggling again, she let go and jumped gracefully in front of him, her cat ears twitching twice before she spun in a slow circle. When she finished, she bounced back to his side.

"You know, you'll attack unwanted attention to us if you keep doing that."

"Doing what?" she asked, tilting her head as her ears twitched again.

"That," he pointed. He switched them to Whisper Mode. "Your ears."

She blinked, and then looked up at the parts in question. "What about them?"

Skeith rolled his eyes. "They move. Anyone would think they were illegal, even if they didn't move, but the fact that they do is even more suspicious. The Cobalt Knights are on the move, and they have the Wotan Spear."

"They do? Wonder where they got it…" she mused, tapping her chin with one finger. Like Skeith, she had immunity to it.

"At least try to keep a low profile."

She smiled. "If you're the one asking, I'll be glad to." Jumping to his side, she hugged him swiftly and ran off. If her purple tail had been visible from under her flowery skirt, he swore it would have been swishing side to side.

Grumbling his annoyance, he turned back to the Chaos Gate a warped to a field, hoping to avoid as many strange looks as possible.

When Skeith warped to Morganna's area, he didn't expect to find Innis there ahead of him, sitting on the ground in front of the sleeping Aura. She didn't look up when he sat down beside her, but she smiled. "I've heard good things about you from the others."

"Like what?"

"That you're being a responsible older brother."

He snorted annoyance. "Let them say what they want. I don't care."

"You're too modest," she chuckled.

They were silent for a few minutes, both watching the independent ripples in the fabric of her dress, wafting lightly in the nonexistent breeze. Innis pulled her knees up to her chest, mimicking Skeith's position without even looking in his direction.

"Things have been turbulent lately," he muttered, locking his eyes as she did.

"Have they? I'm aware of what the Cobalt Knights have been doing. Tarvos has been worried."

"She worries too much."

"She has reason to."

Hesitantly, Skeith switched them to Whisper Mode. "So Morganna doesn't hear us."

Innis turned her head, eyebrows pulled together in confusion. "Why shouldn't she?"

"Fidchell made a prophecy. About me."

"What did he say?"

He dropped his eyes to the ground. "That 'The World' is changing, and our actions will shape the future. That my actions will decide it."

Innis didn't react for a long moment. When she did, she sighed. "I can see why you don't want Morganna knowing. If she found out, she'd want to be in control of that."

"Has something happened?"

"She's… been acting strange lately, almost… paranoid. It's creepy."

"Is that why you're here?" Skeith asked, his eyes flicking up to indicate Aura.

Innis nodded. "It's hard to say, but I think it has something to do with that. It may also be… Skeith, have you heard about Lycoris?"

"Lycoris?"

"Thought not. She's an AI, like us, but not quite. She's a lot more like Aura than she is like us. Lately, the Cobalt Knights have been tracking her, so I'm worried about that. I keep wondering… if they can get a hold of Lycoris, and delete her, what about us? What about Aura? I…I don't think we're safe, even if the strongest thing they have is the Spear of Wotan."

Skeith let out a long sigh. "I'll try and protect Lycoris for a while… once I find her."

"Can you do that?"

"If she's anything like I expect, she'll understand the situation if I explain it to her. I'll help her avoid them for long enough that they forget about her."

"They'll delete you too, if they find out." Innis muttered, looking deject at the ground.

"My 'Terror of Death' will prevent it," he retorted. "There's no problem."

'Terror of Death', while being Skeith's title, was also the name of his special ability. Each of the Phases had one based on and named from their titles, having an effect related to it. 'Terror of Death' prevented Skeith's data from being erased; if someone or something tried to delete him, it would only be temporary. His data would reform to its state from the moment before he was deleted.

Shrugging to her feet, she smiled. "I hope so," she whispered as she warped out, leaving Skeith alone with the sleeping girl.

When Skeith returned to Mac Anu, he had barely finished warping in when something bumped him from behind, making him stumble. Looking up, he saw Rei, the younger half of Gorre, smiling sweetly at him. She stood with her hands behind her back, her knees bending as she swayed back and forth on her feet. He instantly dubbed her behavior suspicious.

"What do you want?" he asked, looking down at her.

"Nothing," she smiled. "I already have it. Right, Gorr?"

Spinning around, Skeith saw the other half, Gorr, standing by the Chaos Gate with Skeith's scythe, holding the large weapon uneasily in his small hands. Furious, Skeith lunged at him, but the boy dodged out of the way, racing around to join his sister. They stuck their tongues out at him before they ran out into the city. With a feral growl, Skeith gave chase.

The two children were small, so they easily fit into small spaces, a fact they used to their advantage. They ducked around objects and down alleyways, using the people they passed around to mask their path. Without any consideration for the other players, Skeith chased after them, knocking over anyone who got in the way. Finally, they reached the central canal, and paused to look behind them. Suddenly, from the side, Skeith appeared, scooping them up, one under each arm. They screamed and squawked, trying to wriggle their way free, but he tightened his hold.

"We give! We give! We'll give it back!" Gorr shouted, sounding on the verge of tears.

Putting him down, the boy fumbled as he removed the scythe from his inventory and returned it to its owner. Only then did Skeith put Rei down beside her brother. "Now, explain yourselves."

"But…!" Rei began to protest, but Skeith's glare made her cringe. "We wanted you to play with us."

"To… play with you?"

Gorr nodded. "We wanted to play with you, big brother, but you're never around when we look for you…"

"Brother Skeith needs to stay in one place more often!"

At a loss for words, Skeith sighed. "I'll play with you another day. I'm busy right now."

"Promise?" Rei asked, pouting.

He rolled his eyes. "I promise."

The two burst into wide smiles. "Then, we'll see you soon, big brother!" Gorr laughed, and they took off.

Skeith watched them go, a slight smile on his face. 'Amusing ones, those two…'

Skeith trudged down the length of the canal to his usual spot, hoping to get some time to relax after his 'game' with Gorre, but he had no such luck. Standing in his spot was Corbenik, watching the flow of the river through his blue-tinted glasses. He turned when Skeith stopped beside him.

"What do you want, Corbenik? I'm busy."

Corbenik was unfazed, by both Skeith's words and his glare. "I have orders from Morganna."

"I was there not even ten minutes ago. Why didn't she tell me then?"

"It's not your place to question Morganna's orders."

Skeith rolled his eyes. "Whatever. What does she want?"

Corbenik turned to meet his eyes. "You are to observe the Vagrant AI, Lycoris. She is currently with the leader of the Cobalt Knights, player Albireo, who has been tasked with deleting her. If he fails to complete his duty, then you are ordered to delete her."

"Must be a serious job, if Morganna wants me to handle it personally."

"It's not your place to question Morganna's orders."

"Alright, broken record, I get the point. I'll start my tracking ASAP, okay?"

Corbenik turned away, walking past Skeith in the general direction of the Chaos Gate. "I'd be careful who I slight, if I were you. It might just be your end."

Skeith snarled, and Corbenik left. 'I'd ask for your opinion if I wanted it, smart mouth. Sorry, Innis, but orders are orders…'