"Woah, look!" March 28th, 2028, 8:30am real world time. Students around school began to gather in small groups as a girl walked through the school gates. "It's her, she's so cute, It's the schools princess." people would murmur as she walked past. The girl had long white hair which seemed to reflect the light of the sun. Her bright blue eyes and porcelain skin paired with her astounding figure made her almost look doll like. She entered the school and put her shoes in her locker, letting out a long sigh. She entered the classroom and people greeted her with smiles and compliments. She was thankful, obviously. Although, something about it just didn't feel right.
"All of this, is empty." She thought as she sat down. For someone who was so popular, she felt so alone. Later that day, she was approached by a group of boys on the way home.
"Hey there, what's a pretty girl like you doing walking all alone?" One of the boys asked with a eerie confidence. She smiled.
"You think I'm pretty do you? Tell me then, what do you like about me?" She asked while turning to face him. The boy smiled.
"What's not to like? Your gorgeous figure, your amazing hair, a nice rack as well." He said while checking her out.
"And is that all? You're simply drawn to my physical appearance?" She asked. The boy paused for a moment.
"W-Well..." He stammered. The girl then put on a very sinister look.
"Then your opinion of me is worthless." She said coldly, then walked away.
"All of this, is empty. These people, are blind." She thought as she walked home. She opened the door to her house and stepped inside.
"Hi honey! How was your day?" A woman asked when she entered the home. The girl shrugged.
"Just fine, mother." She said as she took off her shoes and left them at the door.
"Good. Because remember, you have a photoshoot tomorrow ok? I want big smiles from you!" Her mother said enthusiastically. The girl forced herself to smile.
"Of course!" She said. Her mother smiled.
"That's my good girl." She said while hugging her. The girl just staired blankly into the distance during the embrace, she felt nothing.
"All of this, is empty. These people, are blind. They only see, the shell." She thought this as she went up to her room and closed the door. "They only see the cover, they only want the cover." She picked up her VR visor. "They, don't need me." She laid down on the bed and closed her eyes. "and I don't need them." Light flashed in her vision and text appeared in the bottom left hand corner of her visor as she logged into the virtual world. "I know me, I'm the only one who knows me, who cares about me, I don't need others." With this final thought a notification appeared on her visor:
"Log in Successful! Welcome back, Silvia."
April 8th, 2029, floor 26, 11:00pm game time. Jyenka and the rest of his party were gathered right outside the castle walls of Karzonia, waiting for an event to trigger. By the game's script, one of the people that they were supposed to be hunting would spawn here. It would be there best chance to take him out. Silvia halted the group.
"We'll wait here for now, when he spawns in I'll go and talk to him." Silvia said while turning around to face the party.
"Alone?" Jyenka said with a slight tone of concern.
"He won't attack until he knows we're hostile. If he does though, I want ThirtySix to be on standby." As she said this ThirtySix nodded his head.
"So what should we do?" Taijou asked.
"Just hang back for now, me and ThirtySix should be enough to take him out." Silvia said with confidence.
"W-Wait, Silvy. Are you sure that's a good idea?" Jyenka asked with more concern now. Silvia sighed.
"Just follow my orders Jyenka." She said with a concerned look. Jyenka was about to say something in response when a figure emerged from a alleyway nearby to were the group was standing. As he did, Silvia had Shoko use a cloaking enchantment on her axe and began to move out.
"S-Silvy, wait!" Jyenka tried to reach out to her but she was already walking up to the figure.
"It's a nice night tonight, Isn't it?" Silvia said calmly while walking up to the figure. The figure slowly turned around.
"What's a pretty young lass like you doing out this late at night?" He asked. Silvia giggled.
"Oh, there's no need to flatter me sir. I was just observing the night sky, like you seem to be." She said while maintaining her calm tone of voice. She walked up next to him. "It's a little cold tonight, no?" She asked while reaching behind her. Silvia was going for her weapon.
"Perhaps." The figure replied. "I could warm you up if you'd like." He said with a slightly sinister tone. Silvia smiled.
"Oh, you're so kind." She said gently, then quickly drew the axe from off her back right as the cloak ability wore off. "I appreciate it!" She exclaimed as she swung his axe down at his leg, knocking him off balance.
"Argh! What the hell!?" He exclaimed as he stumbled back, clutching the leg that Silvia had swung at. Without a second thought, Silvia slashed him again with her axe. He fell to the ground. She then placed her foot on his chest.
"Now, mind answering a few questions for me?" She asked with a smug smile on her face.
"W-Wow, she got him." Taijou said with a surprised look on his face.
"Yeah... Doesn't it seem a little too easy?" Jyenka asked. Taijou gave him a confused look.
"What do you mean?" he asked. Right after he spoke 3 figures leapt out from the shadows. As they did, ThirtySix immediately jumped into action. Silvia turned around and quickly blocked one of the attackers. The man who Silvia was trying to interrogate smiled maliciously.
"As if I'd let my guard down that easy!" He said through gritted teeth. Silvia ignored him.
"Alright ThirtySix, we can take these guys." Silvia said while glancing at ThirtySix. He nodded and readied his spear.
"C'mon Taijou, Shoko, we gotta help!" Jyenka exclaimed but Taijou put a hand on his shoulder.
"Silvia asked us to trust her." Taijou said sternly.
"B-But..." Jyenka stammered. Taijou just shook his head in response. Two figures surrounded Silvia, she took a fighting stance by raising her axe over her left shoulder so that the handle ran across her shoulder blades and the blade of the axe was at the right of her. One of the figures ran behind her and tried to strike, just as he did the other figure tried to strike her from the front. Silvia's axe lit up with a blue glow and she did a spin attack to block both the figures and knock them back. She then lunged at one of them and slashed her axe right across there chest, sending them flying back and shattering into blue polygons. The next figure tried a cautious approach by hanging back. Silvia glared at him and lifted her axe into the air. It let off a bright green glow and the sword skill "Earth braker Mk1" displayed above her head. She swung her axe to the ground and a green burst of energy shot from the front of it, hitting the second figure dead on and turning them into blue polygons as well. Silvia sighed then looked over and noticed that ThirtySix had also taken out his target.
"Alright, now that your goons are gone you wanna-" She stopped talking as she noticed that the figure who they were hunting from the start had disappeared.
"Looking for me?" A sinister voice said from behind her. Silvia quickly turned around and realised that the man was charging up a sword skill from behind her. She quickly readied he axe to block it when suddenly Jyenka jumped in front of her and parried the attack. He then launched a 5 hit combo and defeated the figure. Silvia watched in a slight state of shock as the figure then exploded into blue polygons.
"Got him." Jyenka said as he sheathed his double bladed sword. "You ok Silvy?" He asked while looking behind him. Silvia clenched her fists.
"I told you... to stay back..." She said through gritted teeth. Jyenka gave her a confused look.
"I know, but we still got the job done right?" He said.
"I was fine on my own, I had him." She said while looking up at Jyenka with anger in her eyes.
"Look, I just wanted to help ok?" Jyenka said while turning around to face her.
"I don't need your help!" Silvia shouted. Everyone went quiet for a few seconds. "You think you're some kind of hero Jyenka but you're not! You're just another player like the rest of us! You can't just jump in and save the day whenever you please, not everyone wants help from you." Silvia turns around. "I definitely don't want help from you." Once she says this she begins to walk away. Jyenka stood there for a moment, frozen in place.
"S-Silvia! Wait up!' Taijou said while running after her. Shoko looked over at Jyenka.
"We should follow him." Shoko said. Jyenka just turned around.
"No, if that's what she wants then so be it." Jyenka said as he walked away.
April 9th, 2029, floor 26, 1:00am game time. Silvia lied awake in a bed at an inn around the lower districts of Karzonia. Her mind filled with thoughts as she tossed and turned in bed.
"I don't need help, I can do this on my own, I am the only one who cares about me, I don't need others, I don't want others... I want to be alone..." As she thought this images of her party members began to flood her brain. "Do they care about me... or do they care about Silvia?" She asked herself. This thought would continue to plague her as she drifted off to sleep.
April 9th, 2029, floor 26, 10:30am game time. Jyenka and his party walked around the streets of Karzonia to see that the people in the area seemed to be preparing for a battle.
"The people, are going to revolt?" He asked as he looked around.
"The man we eliminated last night had some valuable information on him, by leaking that to the right authorities we saved ourselves some time." ThirtySix said while walking next to Jyenka.
"Cool, nice going ThirtySix." Jyenka said with a smile. ThirtySix just stared at him coldly. "Wh-What?" Jyenka asked.
"We did that when you left, after Silvia yelled at you." ThirtySix said. Jyenka looked away.
"Sorry ok, I just had to turn in that night." Jyenka said while looking straight ahead. ThirtySix raised an eyebrow.
"So that's it?" He asked. Jyenka looked at him again.
"What's it?" He said.
"You aren't going to say anything else about the matter?" ThirtySix asked again. Jyenka rolled his eyes.
"What's the point? She doesn't need me." Jyenka said with an angry look on his face. ThirtySix just sighed.
"You two are gonna have to make up eventually." He said. Jyenka sighed.
"Maybe, I don't know." He said while scratching his head. He looked behind him to see Silvia talking with Taijou and Shoko. ThirtySix then suddenly put his hand in front of Jyenka, signalling for him to stop. Jyenka gave him a confused look before looking forward and seeing a troop of soldiers approach them.
"Do you have business with us?" Silvia asked confidently as she walked in front of Jyenka and ThirtySix. The soldiers stopped in front of them.
"Are you the ones who leaked the information about one of our generals?" A soldier at the front of the pack asked. ThirtySix nodded and Silvia responded.
"That is correct." She said.
"Good." Said the soldier at the front. "We're with the resistance, we have a plan to take out the supreme general." He said. "We can get you into the castle, just follow us and you can take him on." Silvia opened her quest log, it stated that defeating the supreme general would eliminate the source of the corruption.
"Ok." Silvia said before closing her menu. "When do we start?" She asked.
April 9th, 2029, floor 26, 1:00pm game time The party was gathered outside the castle walls. A soldier pulled up driving a cart.
"Hide in here, this should get you into the castle." He said while gesturing to the cart behind him. The party looked at the cart, then at ThirtySix.
"We're gonna need a bigger cart..." Taijou said. The party ended up fitting all the members into the cart except Jyenka who wore a soldiers uniform.
"Why me? This stuff is so hard to move in!" Jyenka said while awkwardly approaching the cart.
"Need a hand?" ThirtySix asked.
"Oh, that'd be great." Jyenka said while holding up his hand. ThirtySix took his hand then threw him into the cart. The rest of the party hid under a blanket in the back of the cart. The cart began to move and the party approached the entrance to the castle. After being sent through they entered the courtyard and the carriage came to a sudden stop.
"Why'd we stop?" Shoko asked. Silvia just put her finger over her lips, telling her to be quiet. Then, the blanket covering them came off and standing above them where four resistance soldiers.
"What's going on?" Silvia asked. One of the soldiers pointed at them.
"That's them, supreme general." he said. A towering figure of a man who even made ThirtySix look small stood over them.
"Well done, you played your parts perfectly." He said with a sinister smile. Silvia jumped up and took her axe out of her inventory and into her hands.
"It's a trap! Everyone, get ou-" She was suddenly cut off as a dart entered her neck. Her vision went black and she fell to the floor. The other party members tried to ready themselves but were also put to sleep.
Silvia Slowly opened her eyes, her vision blurry at first. She looked around at the stone walls that now surrounded her. When she had fully gathered her bearings she tried to stand up, but noticed that her hands had been chained to the wall. Two guards walked up to her cell and stared down at her.
"Finally awake, good." One of them said.
"What do you want?" Silvia said angrily. The second guard spoke up.
"We don't need anything out of you, all you have to do is sit here for the rest of your life." He said calmly.
"As if!" Silvia yelled, violently thrashing the chains that held her down.
"Resistance is futile." The first guard said. Silvia slouched back against the wall. The guards then turned there backs and walked away.
"I'm alone now..." Silvia thought to herself. She gave a slight smile. "This is what I wanted, right? This is what I asked for... I don't need others... I don't want others... But then..." She noticed a tear run down the side of her cheek. "Why does it hurt so much?" She thought as she closed her eyes. Suddenly, the clanging of metal on metal could be heard from outside her cell. She looked up to see what it was, then got startled by a guards body that went flying past her cell door. The noises stopped and she looked up and noticed another guard standing at the front of her cell. The guard opened the door to the cell, then walked up to her and unlocked the chains around her wrists. "Thank you..." Silvia said while looking at the guard. He just nodded and gestured for her to follow him. The two walked out of the cell and the guard suddenly paused and opened his inventory. He materialised Silvia's axe in his hand and then gave it to her. Silvia took the axe and re-equipped it. "How does he know that this was my weapon?" Silvia thought to herself. Before she could ask, 3 guards came running at them. The guard drew his sword, and Silvia readied her axe. Silvia opened the fight with a massive swing of her axe, causing the guards to stagger. Then, the soldier ran in and struck them with his sword, taking a chunk out of there HP. Like clockwork, Silvia jumped in again and used a strong jump attack to stagger the guards again. "This guy seems to know exactly how I like to fight as well..." Silvia thought. He went in to strike again but seemed to be making a lot of excessive movement for a 1 handed sword. "And the way he uses that sword... it's like he's using a-" Silvia's eyes then widened. Before she could say anything, she noticed that one of the guards had dropped a bomb apple when his HP hit zero. The soldier who was helping her quickly grabbed her and jumped out of the way of the explosion. The two of them fell to the ground, with Silvia landing on top of him. The guard looked up, to see Silvia staring at him angrily. He gave a confused look, but then noticed that his helmet had been knocked off. He chuckled and smiled nervously.
"H-Hey... Silvy..." He said shakily
"Jyenkaaaaa!" Silvia yelled as she drew her axe and put the blade right over his neck. Fury burning in her eyes.
"Wait! Wait! I can explain...!" Jyenka said while putting his hands up.
"Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you right now!" Silvia exclaimed through gritted teeth.
"The others are still locked away somewhere!" Jyenka said franticly. Silvia calmed down.
"I have a map of the prison, and I know which cells they're in." Jyenka said while staring up at her. Silvia moved her axe way from his neck.
"Prison? So this is..." She thought while looking around. Jyenka nodded.
"We're in the castle." Jyenka said. Silvia looked down at him.
"So you know where they are?" She asked. Jyenka nodded again. Silvia sighed.
"I know you don't want my help, but I want to help you." Jyenka said. Silvia gritted her teeth.
"Why? Why do you want to help me so much?" She asked angrily.
"It's because I care about you." Jyenka said calmly. Silvia's eyes widened slightly. "Do I need any other reason?" He said while giving her a smile. Silvia blushed a little and looked away.
"So... I... I guess... I..." She stammered. Jyenka smirked.
"No no, I believe in you. You got this!" He said jokingly. Silvia's face went fully red.
"I need your help ok!" She blurted out. Jyenka chuckled.
"Alright captain, lets go save our friends." Jyenka said confidently. Silvia gave a slight smile.
"Yeah, let's do it." She said calmly.
"Cool... so uh..." Jyenka looked around. Silvia gave him a confused look. Jyenka blushed a little. "You can get off me now..." He said while averting her gaze. Silvia's face went bright red again and she jumped off him.
"You're an idiot." She said while turning her back to him. Jyenka brushed himself off and got up.
"You're welcome for saving you by the way." He said nonchalantly. Silvia reluctantly followed Jyenka as he walked down the hallway.
"Supreme General!" One of the nights ran up to the throne room at the top of the palace and kneeled before a large man sitting at a throne.
"Speak." He said in a deep voice.
"There's been a disturbance in the prison, we think some people may have escaped!" He said while cowering before the supreme general.
"Do we have any names?" The supreme general asked.
"We have one..." The soldier said. He looked up to the him and made eye contact. "Jyenka." He said. The general smiled and stood up, towering over the guard.
"Interesting..." He said menacingly.
To be Continued...