AN: Yes yes....my baby. :D I really did miss this
The first thing I realized when I logged in was that everything seemed off for a moment. It seemed that my entire screen had inverted, as if I was looking into the the negative of a photo. Then it faded, as if nothing had happened, leaving me to wonder if M2D was glitching out and needed to be replaced. It wouldn't surprise me if it did, seeing as how Ella and I had had our fair share of disasters with every piece of electronical equipment we had owned. The M2D itself had hit the floor at least ten times due to either Ella or I tackling the other (Pre-hating days) to get a chance at playing the game.
The second thing I realized is that my character was a lot taller than Masquerade I had ever been. I knew my character had to be about six feet now, two and a half feet taller than the midget Masquerade was. I couldn't help but smile at the thought of it.
The third thing I realized was my level counter.
"Damn." I hissed, drawing the attention of a few passerby's to me before they continued on their merry way to whatever they did with their lives.
Sure, I knew my character would be level one again, but it was still painful to see after all the work I had done to bring Masquerade up to the boasting level of one-hundred. This new level was dispicable to my already trained eyes. This was like losing data on a precious memory card at the end of a really good game and having to go back and do it all over again.
At least in this game, things were always changing. I wouldn't have to repeat any levels or do anything else that I had done already aside from the Animal Hunting quests, but the starter quest always seemed to vary. It didn't look like it would be too annoying and as an added bonus, I wouldn't have to worry too much about people asking for me to join their parties or needing to be in one.
Of course, many of the quests in the quest shop required parties.
"Okay, Kaden. Step one: make friends."
I started walking and pushed the steel doors open. Instantly the sun assailed my eyes, impressing me as it always did. It took a truly talented game designer to potentially blind its future players.
Now it came down to the problem of finding people that would join my party. I'd never been good at making friends, that had always been Ella's job to do in the game. But it couldn't possibly be too hard.
A few seconds after a wandered onto the bridge leading to the center of Mac Anu, I felt someone tap my shoulder. Turning, I saw a little boy with a hat similar to jesters on top of his head.
"S'cuse me..." He murmured, moving his hand back. "Did you say you were looking for friends?"
I nodded and bit my lip slightly, not sure what to say. On top of the friends issue, I had trouble communicating with others, which was extremely sad.
"And you're a new player?" He asked, looking up at me with a small smile. I couldn't help but smile back, and for a second it was like I was communicating with Ella again.
"Well, my big brother has a special guild. It helps out new players when they need it. I could shortmail him if you wanted."
"T-That would be great. Thank you," I scrolled across his name "Sakubo."
"You're welcome Kaden. But please, just call me Bo." He told me and for a second, I caught an innocent but conspiritorial look in his eye, before he turned away and began to shortmail his brother. I continued standing there, looking around. A group of people walked together, talking about the coming tournament in Lumina Cloth. I'd always wanted to participate in one, but stood back since Ella didn't want to do it and I didn't have the courage to either talk to other people to join with me or the strength to enter myself. It still seemed like a good idea though.
"Kaden, my brother says he is on his way. Be warned though... big brother can be a little rough in his training."
"What do you-"
Bo waved his fingers and warped, interupting me before I could get the rest of my sentence out. He still had that odd look in his eyes though, a look that seriously weirded me out.
With a sigh, I sat on the ground and crossed my legs. Meditating could be cheesy, yes, but it calmed me, no matter what situation I was in. So I sat there, both in the game and out of it, taking deep breaths as the world moved around me.
Kaden....
My eyes shot open as I leapt up, nearly disconnecting my computer, M2D and keyboard in the process. Quickly, I pulled my M2D off and looked around, searching for the source of the voice but finding nothing.
With a deep breath I sat back down and found myself face to face with a character who had blood red eyes.
I was sure the entire world, both in game and out heard my scream.
