.Hack//SotT Hidden Forbidden New Truth

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The chaos Gate stands alone among the ruble and vines that choke the forgotten temple. There seems to be no field, just halls leading to other halls, chasms, and dark unknowns. The only sounds is the soft echo of dripping water that seems to have no source, the rest is eerily silent. The temple itself seems lost to the ages, once magnificent now not even an afterthought in the World's Tomes of History

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Maverick entered the area, a ring of light bringing his dull grey form into existence. He smiled a bit as he took in the new sights, the graffics update started to blow his mind. "its so....peaceful.." He took a deep breath and exhaled trying to fathom exactly how much effort was put into the programming as he ran his fingers across the wall feeling the cracks, and bumps. Looking the runic markings over with eyes hungry for more.

Shortly, Fallen Angel appeared behind him and seeing the over-excited beta-tester, she decided to explore the other side of the chamber. She wandered around, studying the detail work in the walls and pillars, marveling in the amount of work that was obviously put into the art. Her eyes moved up to the arched celing and around the whole chamber, there was an almost pagan reverence to the place that she liked.

After materializing into the new area, Lucille took a moment to take a brief look around at the decimated temple they were now in. With the ominous silence she could hear the faint drip of water and the footsteps of the other players was almost shockingly loud. So he took the time herself to approach the edges of the area and to see just how well the place had been programmed.

The rambunctious grappler known as Xakot materialized into the area. He took a quick look around soaking in the dark atmosphere of the forgotten relic. "Huh i would have thought we would have been sent to .Hack//SotT Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground. Not here. Where is this any how?" He pondered out loud not noticing the other players and his new guild mates. The runes on the walls caught his eye, they seemed familiar, something he had seen from R2, what was it?

With a flicker of light Jaliel materialized into the chamber. He examined the room with x-ray like precision as soon as he opened his eyes. The room was exhilarating, the intricate runes where painstakingly carved, well virtually, into the walls, each vine had its own pattern leaves and even the small fuzz like hairs present in some. His eyes fell upon Xakot, the guild master for Mortis Angelus back in R2. He knew the million mile an hour boy wouldn't recognize him, after all he hadn't stood out in the guild, or even the game for that matter, he only played because he enjoyed just the simple company of the others around him in this magnificent world.

As he appeared in the area, Akihiro was confused to see others standing around waiting. The message had pointed them all here, he assumed, but the reason was uncertain. Looking at the others, they seemed as puzzled as he was. No need to ask them in that case. He looked to see if there was an obvious way to go on the field, assuming this was nothing more than a tutorial, and what with the broken message, perhaps the tutorial hadn't been put in yet. It was very pretty for just a training level however. Those runes on the wall, maybe they were markers, or maybe they were just decoration. For the moment, Akihiro just wanted to play. He walked to the beginning of a hallway, and looked back at the others, as if waiting for them, wondering if they'd follow.

Lunar appeared by in her words "fancy walls" and looked around. There where so many doors and along with other things for her to take in. she noticed something on her shoulder and jumped back only to relize it was a root from the tree that dicided to make the ruines it's new home."Aghhh I'm here for four minutes and get freaked out over a root."

Berne appeared into the room just as Lunar jump back into his because of a stray root. He caught her softly and chuckled lightly as he looked around the room for a moment, looking at the architecture of the enclosure as well as the underground nature.

The last through, Kyler was quicker to take in the surroundings than it seemed the others were. Making tracks straight to where the 'guild recruiter' stood, eyes scanned the walls and everything around the group. No words were spoken, Kyler simply stood by waiting and watching, wondering vaguely what to do now.

With the players all gathered in the main chamber it seemed as if the event would start. However for the moment the only thing that happened was the constant dripping of water and the occasion crumble of the ceiling as pebbles fell. As Xakot poked around at the runes they came to life, giving off a soft blue glow, slowly shifting and rearranging themselves,
In the beginning the goddess slept
as the World took shape around her
the streams flowed, the wind blowed
and the sands of time passed by.
Her shadow watched diligently by,
but as the goddess' light grew the shadow knew
she would soon be engulfed by the light.
So she kept the girl asleep,
by keeping another forever awake.
They finally broke free of the shadows spell
only to be hunted by the shadows' shadows,
the shadows victims forced to sleep, eternally bound.
A hero basked in the light of twilight
opposed the shadows finally setting goddess free.
The heroes faded to legend and legend to myth
the world faded from memory as time moved on.
However, as light fades shadows grow.
Darkness thrives in the spaces forgotten.

As Angel wandered around the chamber, trailing her fingers along the stone that felt so real, movement caught her eye. She turned to see the runes on the wall shift and rearrange themselves, watching in awe, obviously admiring the graphics. As words began to form, she began to read, her lips moving silently. It sounded like a story of two opposites, locked in a struggle for power, maybe even for existence. Not a very original concept, but still beautifully written. What idea was truly original anyways? She wondered if 'spaces forgotten' meant this forgotten temple. If so, this was a pretty cool way to introduce the conflict of the game.

Lunar moved a bit away from Berne, before giving a nod instead of a thanks. She noticed runes movement and was quickly fixed on it, wandering how the cheaters where able to make them move so beautifully. It took a few minutes before she realized the runes where readable.".....Hmmm Is there a creator of the world in the original story line?" she asked quietly still abit in awe."Or is this saying we have to do a Zelda like fight between darkness and light?"

Berne nodded back and looked around the old ruins, tracing his fingertips lightly over the faintly glowing runes, s they illuminate the room slightly. He glanced around the room looking for an exist or passageway of some sort as he eyed the other players around him as well.

Maverick smiled really wide as the words bounced around in his head, he was facing away from the others, so he had a moment to collect himself before turning around "When I was a kid, back when "The World" was just getting popular, there was lots of talk about weird quests like this on the forums." He scratched his chin in thought. "I'm excited to be involved this time, it sounded really interesting, though the players involved seemed stressed..."

"What is this stuff? I mean give us some Monsters or a big boss or something! We are the first players come on, rare gear or something." Xakot fumed, he enjoyed good lore as much as the next player but this seemed just to generic for his taste. "I think the tutorial in R2 was better." He stretched his arms as he readied his gauntlets. "Goddess's and shadows, heroes and light sounds familiar."

Jaliel squinted as the words ran through his head, everything about this seemed familiar, something he had read about from the old forums as the tribal grappler had mentioned. A goddess, a hero of twilight? It seems like familiar lore. His old guild master was a brilliant tactician and legendary fighter, but his attention span was like that of a puppy, the best man you could have at your back for a fight, but not someone you left the guild bank or member log.
His focus broke as the runes suddenly shifted and fuzzed as if trying to stay in focus. The slightest glimmer of a light flickering down the large corridor to the right. Jelial's keen eyes where the first to notice.
He quickly tapped Xakot's shoulder to get his attention, pointing calmly at the shimmer down the hall.

Having stayed close to Xakot, Kyler noticed the shifting and flickering almost right away. Following the glimmers, it became apparent that the others hadn't noticed. "Should we pursue?" was the simple question, the quiet, calm voice distinctly different from the rest of the people as Kyler awaited an answer.

With a quick deliberation Maverick found himself trekking ahead of the others. "if they wanna give us bread-crumbs to follow, I'm all for it." He said nonchalantly as he followed the pathway set out for them "this feels a bit...too guided even for a quest in the World."

Looking around the room again Lunar noticed a few people looking towards the new door way. She was interested in where that lead, but started looking for other paths instead. "If I was to create a game...I wouldn't make it that easy...Of course it is just the beginning." she muttered to herself running her hand against the wall.

Akihiro was still waiting for others to follow when the hallway he was near started to glow. 'Well, that'll get their attention' he thought. He'd barely looked at the runes before, but finally doing so, he looked at the text. 'goddess, shadows, light and darkness, the standard then.' Akihiro wasn't one for game storylines, he tended to play a game for the gameplay, but if story sneaked up on him, he'd at least acknowledge it. He took another look at the group, wondering when they'd join him.

The movements of the other players and the glimmer from the passage drew Angel's eye. She looked around the room, then hesitantly started for the hall. She wondered to herself if the entire game was going to be this linear, she was used to games like the Elder Scrolls series where there were a myriad of quest options and she hoped this wouldn't be like most of the other MMOs she'd tried. Though she supposed that the full immersion of the World already put it a step above the rest.

"Huh.. what? What do you want? Oh.." Xakot turned to look at where the wavemaster had been pointing. The faintest glimmer could be seen down the hall. "Well lead a horse to water I suppose." With that said, he took off down the hall in a half jog. It seemed to go on forever in his eyes, stretching out down the hall the glimmer never getting closer. "Lets go people!" He quickly sent out a group invite to everyone in the area.

Lucille caught on to the shifting of the runes about the same time as the other players, and she kept a close look as they arranged themselves into words. By the time the shifting stopped, it had formed an elaborate display of what appeared to be the beginning of the mission that they had all been led here for. It was a lot to take in, to say the least, but it promised an event full of adventure and excitement. As she saw one of her new guild-mates pointing, Lucille followed his line of sight until she saw the light shining so bright in the darkness. Approaching Kyler as their guildmaster took off down the hall, she went to accept the group invite that Xakot threw up to everyone. "Well he's excitable. Might as well follow, yeah?" She did offer the guy (girl?) a smile before following the other male at her own pace.

Having to resist the urge to follow Xakot with a roll of the eyes, Kyler accepted the group invite and spared a glance at Lucille as the girl spoke. "Excitable works for some," was all that was said in response as the archer started following, feet moving quickly to catch up to the guild master. Kyler didn't want to make friends too quickly, but it was in everyone's best interest to stick together when things were getting quite this interesting.

Lunar sighed when she saw the friend invite but accepted it any way. She hardly know any of these people, and frankly there were a few she wasn't quite sure if she wanted to know. "Guess, we play follow the leader...although, I still feel like this is a bit too guided."

As the others caught up to him, Akihiro gave a satisfied nod, glad this game, and the players, were starting to move along. Seeing a group invitation, he accepted it quickly, in case the dungeon suddenly decided to separate them, he'd rather have some form of connection. He gave another nod as people approached, nestling himself within the group as they marched onward through the passageway.

The party invite loomed in Maverick's view, He quickly declined and continued on the forward path, a few steps ahead of the rest. His ego must seem massive, He shrugged to himself, his eyes doing a double take on every thing he beholds. "I notice I don't have an active quest..." he parted his grey hair to let his eyes take in more light. His piercing cold eyes locked on the path ahead. This started to feel strange, even for a game like this.Maverick couldn't help but shake an incredibly nervous feeling that started to take hold of him.

Jelial had been following closely behind Xakot, pondering the situation as they went. Something here was wring, he couldn't put his finger on it but the atmosphere was all wrong. He accepted the invite without much thought.

The hall continued on as the players made their way. The glowing never seemed to get closer but the hallway only got darker, never turning, never deviating. Not even a monster seemed to break the monotony as five minutes rolled by without a single change.

"Does this strike anybody else as odd?" They were the first words Fallen Angel had spoken in-game and she was satisfied that her avatar's voice didn't sound too much like her own. She'd accepted the party invite and walked along with the others and while she'd been excited at first she was beginning to grow bored.

"you wouldn't be the only one to think that.." Maverick retorted from is position ahead of the others "it's probably coded to be a longer hallway to give us a bit of suspense before they reveal some crazy new feature or something. He glanced around the passage anyway looking for anything they might be missing.

Berne followed the others down the hall, a little uneasy since there wasnt a single sign of a monster or really anything else for that matter. As they continued down the hall he peered towards the end of it trying to see if there was anything ahead of them outside ro t least at the hall that might hint as to what might be waiting for them.

The group continued on their long walk, seemingly to no end. The hall never changed, the same mystic runes adorning the walls as the journeyed. The light never more than a faint speck on the horizon. Then as if the light rushed forward to meet them they suddenly emerged into a chamber, the light shafts from above giving a momentary blindness. After some blinking the ones on front could finally see, a familiar set of vines and endless hallways, the exact same one they had just left, seemingly from the same doorway they had departed from.

Like all the others, Lucille trailed quietly down the hall that the light led them down, not too far behind Xakot as he led the group once more. While this event had seemed mysterious and interesting at first, it was quickly becoming redundant as they seemed to gain no distance towards their destination. Just as she went to let out a sigh at the idea, the light seemed to suddenl fling itself at her, causing her to screw her eyes shut at the sheer pain of the brightness. After a few moments and once the light seemed to dull past her closed eyelids, Lucille reopened her eyes once more to see... Nothing new. It was the exact place that they had just left from. What the hell? What exactly was going on with this place?

Lunar was getting bored, she place her scyth acrossed her shoulders as she marched. She was hoping something exciting would happen quickly. She got her wish as the light met her, She clamped her eyes shut as she felt the pain from the sudden light. "Owww~! I wanted a monster not a headache." she muttered annoyed slowly opening her eyes."Huh? isn't this the same room?"

When her eyes refocused, Angel looked around, "Looks like it." she said a bit dryly by way of response to Lunar's question. "Is it glitching?" Her eyes fell on Xakot, who gave the distinct impression of having participated in the beta. Maybe he'd have an idea what was going on here.

Xakot was busy inserting his gauntlet into his forehead as he crunched the situation in his head. "Theres got to be something to it..." he thought back to the poem they had read upon entering. 'However, as light fades shadows grow. Darkness thrives in the spaces forgotten.'" He scanned the room once again, taking note that the glimmer was once again down the hall form where they had emerged.

Maverick Turned backwards towards the path they had just come from, the room was definitely the same. "Its a riddle.." he spouted as the details flowed through his head "Darkness thrives in the spaces forgotten..." a grin crept on his face as he traveled backwards past all the others into the darkness of the hallway, the light towards his back.

After the group completed the nice little circuit, Akihiro shook his head of it, wondering if it was some kind of trick, or really bad copy-and pasting. He decided to test this out, running as fast as he could down the same passageway again. If he met his group again, he knew it was one of those weird labyrinth warpy things he'd seen in some games, if not, he could call back for them. Nevertheless, for now, he took the same passageway again.

While the group was mulling the situation over Akihiro erupted from the same passage way he had left down moments before.

"'As light fades shadows grow. Darkness thrives in the spaces forgotten...'" Angel murmured quietly to herself. It sounded to her like the riddle was trying to stress the concept of darkness. It made sense. Any game needed a conflict, and darkness usually symbolized evil. Though she personally felt that the correlation was a bit unfair. The girl in the midnight blue dress strode confidently for the dark passage opposite the lit one. Just before the entry into the passage she paused to look behind her, looking to see if anyone was following her, then plunged into the darkness.

A head shook as Kyler watched them trying to unriddle the riddle. There was more to all of this than anyone was seeing. And with people just setting off in any which direction, someone needed to step up. But that someone was not the reclusive and reluctant archer who could already see things that the others were missing. There was no helpful comment from Kyler's direction, instead just patient silence.

Lunar watched the people going off in diffrent direction, She felt it was a bad idea sence it was quite possible for a boss to be at the end of the right path. "Is it really a good idea to split up?........I mean I get that everyones confused and wanting to get some answers...but the answer probably lead to a boss or something." She really wasnt sure if she should've said anything but it was to late to take it back now.

Berne slowly came up from behind Lunar, looking around the room for a moment and thinking about it when he had first loaded into it. He closed his eyes for a moment, and took a deep breath. He once more opened his eyes and scanned the room, scrutinizing every inch of the walls, the roots, the floor and the ceiling, and then peering once more into the darkness of the hall. Watching the young girl disappear into the abyss.

Angel's form was swallowed by the shadows, not even the echoes of her footsteps permeated from the hall. It was as if she simply vanished. He stat bar in the party icon vanished as well.

Berne blinked for moment and watched everything disappear. "Well I'll be." He said out loud, but with a soft sarcastic tone.

The blackness engulfed Maverick His presence all but wiped from the map. The shadows around the room felt all the more intimidating just before his exit. 'This is strange even for the world' That final thought trailed through his head as he vanished.

Not one to be a follower Xakot chose to run to the hallway beside the one the others had chosen instead. He took off wanting to see what would happen for any of the other halls. I took only a moment for Him come flaying back out, majorly scuffed and bruised as if he had just taken the beating of a life time. He maintained a crouch as he waited for others, his breath deep and jagged. "I'm not sure whats down those others but it hits like a truck."

Well, that was enough of an indicator to Akihiro as he needed. Seeing another, Xakot go in, and then out of another tunnel led him to wonder about the girl who had disappeared. She hadn't come back, for better or worse. But that was a problem. If it was the right way, why hadn't she come back and told them? Was she continuing on alone for the loot? Or could she not come back at all? It was most worrying. He decided to stand by the tunnel that had swallowed the girl, looking down it, but seeing nothing.

"Hmm well that's interesting. Maybe there are more paths down the hall of vanishing~ only one way to find out!" Lunar cheered as she ran towards the tunnel the girl dissapeared from. She knew this could be bad for her character but its just a rpg character, nothing in games matter in the real world. 'this could be the only way out too.' she that as she entered the tunnel.

Berne quickly followed after Lunar, not wanting to see her get hurt in this strange place that they had entered. Also, wanting to protect his new friend and ally as he was such an altruist. He moved quickly behind her as his long legs carried him a bit farther, quickly closing the gap with a few easy strides.

Now alone Xakot watched as the rest of the group vanished into the abyss, their stats disappearing from his vision. "Ok this is a bit weird." He scratched his head pondering the prospects of following them, but seeing as how he just got his ass whipped by something he couldn't even fight that was basically the only option. He dove headlong into the blackness.

All senses where gone for the players, the abyss swallowing them, surrounding them, drowning out any sense of light or direction. Just as they seemed to get a hold of themselves the floor gave way and the world crashed around them. The entire area screamed and hissed, the blackness only broken by the screeching blare that assaulted the senses, the players could hear each other screams close by.

Lunar had to take her head set of for a bit, she'd never played a rpg with something as freaky as this. She told herself it was just a game as she put the headset back on.She tried to look around."I-is everyone okay?! What the H*** was that?!"

"Stop screaming, I am right next to you." Berne said softly as he gently placed a hand on her shoulder,closing his eyes as he did so. Taking in the large multitude of sounds and abuse from their environment. His ears flicked lightly as he straightened his posture.

The static only got worse, until it was painful, unbearable to the senses, everything about the world seemed to be crashing at once, every color blurring in their eyes.

Xakot dropped to his knees clutching his face, the noise and sound was actually painful, screaming at his senses. "What the hell, is wrong with this game?"

Fallen Angel doubled over, clutching at her head. She had vague thoughts about dumping herself from the game, but the pain was so intense that she couldn't do anything. "Make it stop." she moaned.

Berne closed one eye, the other only half open as he gritted his teeth. Having been a sound tech in the real world, he had grown Slightly accustomed to the white noise, that and being half deaf helped a little as well. He gritted his teeth a bit harder and clenched his jaw as the white noise seemed to get a bit more intense, taking a knee as he tried to find its source.

Lunar fell to her knees, she closed her eyes tight and covered her ears. Any thought of this being a game was lost to her already overwhelmed senses."Wh-why is this ...happening?"

Maverick the noise made it hard to think as he clutched his forehead and tried to ignore it best he could "Mute command isn't working!" his face twisted in pain as the sound got louder and began to drown out the world.

Swallowed by the shifting darkness, Akihiro could barely hear the screams of others, the voices drowned out by the the screeching of the very world around them, punctuated by blinding changes in his view. He clenched his eyes shut, putting his hands to his temples, biting his lip to keep from screaming himself. It was madness. They shouldn't have come here. They should hurry. Unfortunately, his legs weren't complying right now, close to buckling under the pain his senses were going through.

After watching everyone else disappear and reappear through the varying tunnels, Lucille decided not to follow suite at first. However, once the others started staying gone for good, she felt like then was the time to pursue. Having seen Xakot head into one of the halls, she slowly began following behind him though she took no rush in doing so. Not long after she'd entered did everything go blank. What happened very swiftly after she could only describe as the world going all to Hell. Loud, penetrating screeches seemed to reverberate inside of her brain and it caused Lucille to collapse wherever she had happened to be standing. "What is this?" Screaming out into the air only seemed to make everything infinitely worse, causing all of her senses to blur into one un-discernible thing. Clutching her hands over her ears and crushing her eyes closed, Lucille could do nothing but pray that the assault on her being would soon end.

By far Kyler was the least reactory to the entire ordeal. Watching and waiting for a chance to do anything, that opportunity never really appeared. Before anyone came up with something, the noise and static started. Kyler by far had the least reaction to it outwardly, only putting hands over ears and cringing slightly. The archer actually made it look like there was no pain. But that's all there was for the moment. Not being able to do anything but wait was an annoyance, but this was just downright unbearable.

As if a switch had been flipped everything went dark again. The wailing ceased leaving nothing but a maddening silence. The only sight in the void was a door light not far off, an haunting blue emitting from its depths. The players could not see one anther, and all communication between them was lost.

Xakot was up and struggling his way to the light on instinct. His ears rang with a deafening roar, his eyes still ghosting images with blurs and flashes. He felt no walls as he tried to support himself, his only thought to make it to the light.He finally stumbled through the door way, unable to believe his spinning and disoriented eyes. It was a large circular room with nine arched doorways,the ceiling crumbling as cracks ran the entirety of the chamber. In the center lay a sight beyond comprehension. There lay a beautiful girl, her features soft with long flowing hair as white and pure as new fallen snow. bathed in a flickering blue light her flowing dress compressed to her body by nine chains. One ran from above each doorway constraining her body and back to the doorway. She lay motionless her eyes closed as if in a deep sleep.

Angel stumbled to the door, ears still ringing. She looked around the room, trying to get her eyes to adjust to the light again. "I wonder if this is what that verse was talking about." she murmured to herself as she stood in the doorway holding her head.

Lunar uncovered her ears and slowly got up she wanted to give her body a chance to adjust (or at least have her ears stop the ringing) but she was to afraid of everything disappearing again so she headed for the door as fast as she could. She clanged her eyes together as the light hit them before blinking a few times. "what the....If angels exist...I think I found one."

Stepping through the light seemed to stop the pain. Kyler looked around, hands going back down, and took in the scene. Sharp eyes passed over the woman, despite her beauty, and went to the room as a whole. There had to be something about the chains. Kyler remembered the riddle and looked over at the others, still silent, and waited patiently for someone to do something.

Jeliel took one look at the scene and immediately knew something was amiss. This had to be some sort of boss fight and with everyone still at level one they were going to get massacred. Im going port back and grab some potions, theres no way we can do anything without them. He opened the menu with a wave of his hand as it displayed in front of him. But something was odd, the menu was all dancing, and glitchy and barely legible. Worse still the warp out option was grayed out. "Hey guys... we cant warp back to the beginning of the dungeon."

"What do you mean we can't warp out?" Angel looked sharply at Jeliel before pulling up her own menu. "What the hell?" She muttered under her breath. Release day and already there were glitches that made her seriously consider not playing anymore. She started to think, wondering if there was a way to just dump herself from the game, like turning off a computer.

"Agghh....why did I bother to play this...." Lunar muttered to herself as she walked closer to the girl. Not bothering to check her menu since everyone else seemed to be doing, with the same answer every time. She took one of the chains in her hand. why is this...girl or statue, chained? it seems like a waste of time.

Kyler stayed silent. It may unnerve the rest, but the archer knew better than to voice concern or questions. They wouldn't be calmed or answered, so what was the point? Kyler did stay close to the seeming leader, Xakot, though. It would be easier if they stayed in a group rather than trying to figure out everything on their own.

As soon as Lunar laid her hand on the chain the the world seemed to freeze. No one could move as the air itself seemed to freeze over. Even for a game it was to real as the sensation of ice ran down every players throats into their core. The chains grew black, darker than the blackest depths of the abyss, as a seemingly smokey ether leached from them with a life of their own. For a moment it seemed as if they would only dance in the air, until each one plunged directly into the chests of the players at the foot of their respective doorways. The pain seared through them, the darkness piercing through as if they had been impaled in the real world. It wormed its way under their skin, bulging through their vains, prodding, searching as they went.

The pain was unbearable. Xakot panicked for one of the rare times in his life. The tendrils pulsated, working their way through his body, he could feel them as they stretched his skin worming up past his eyes. He tried to scream but nothing came out but a gargled gasp. He tried to rip his visor off in the real world, to escape the hell he was going through. But he stopped dead, he couldn't feel it only his hair.

Jeliel had no time to react as Lunar touched the chain. The air quickly went cold, chilling him through. It was all to surreal, he thought as he could do nothing to stop the ether from invading his body. It skewered him like a lance from the depths of hades. His eyes were frantic, quickly searching for help, praying someone would save him from the thing that was infesting his chest like a parasite. But he only saw the same scene around him, all his comrades gasping for life as they were each pierced to the floor.

The pain was unbearable Lunar was in to much pain to even regret touching the chain. She was actually scared, she had been telling herself this was a game but now, it was way to real to dismiss.

Cold and pain. Again. Kyler's lips parted but no sound came out as the pain hit. There was an instant hatred for the girl who caused this by messing with things that she had no ideas about. Kyler wanted to fall to the ground and curl up, wanted to get out of the world, wanted to get back to the attic room, but there was no escape. Nothing. The visor seemed to not even be there, the world was all that existed. That and the pain.

Angel's vision glazed over and her muscles were stiff with the searing pain. She gritted her teeth as she groped for her headset, intending to tear it off and chuck it across her small bedroom. But there was nothing there, just the long hair of her avatar.

As soon as they had attacked, the tendrils receded. Pulling back against the players chests with more force than they had attacked with. They had found... something inside the people. They ground and tugged as if trying to rip the players ribcage from their chests, finally extracting a glowing red orb with a sickening tear. The orbs, pulsated and shone with an eary luster. The players could only watch in horror as it felt like their very souls had been ripped from them, receding into the chains and fed directly into the chained figure in the center of the room. All was silent as the players could only gasp and struggle to keep their consciousness. Then after a moment, a malicious laugh rang out. The shadows of the room twisted and surged dancing as if alive, congregating around the chained alter. They pooled and swayed, swallowed the girl, wrapping around her like a veil slowly taking form. A silhouette could vaguely be made out, a younger woman it appeared, her long black hair covering most of her features. Her face cracked into a obtuse smile. "I should thank you, such a wonderful gift upon waking. It was so lonely being bound here with this accursed child." The players began to have enough strength to stand under their own will again.

Kyler seemed the first to be able to move again as hands sought out the weapon on her back. The bow was firm and the arrow notched easily, although the target was probably much harder to hit and kill than the archer knew. Still on the ground, knees holding up a pained body, Kyler aimed the arrow at the figure, the thing that had caused the pain.

Lunar slowly struggled to get on her knees as she pulled out her scythe. Glaring at the figure , even though she was unsure if it was an enemy, but it seemed pretty likely it was a boss.

Angel slowly tucked her legs to her body and rolled to her knees. Bladed fan in each hand, she placed a wrist on her knee, struggled to her feet, and snapped them open. Behind the veil of pain that still clung to her features there was a fire in her eyes. A fight was why she'd joined this game, and if she couldn't escape then by whatever gods supposedly watched the earth, she'd have one. "What the hell are you?" She growled through gritted teeth.

With a forced shove Xakot was on his feet, teetering as he tried to regain his bearings. What had she done to them? he wondered as the room spun around him. He wasn't one to sit back though, as soon as he could see straight he launched himself into a half speed haymaker from all the way across the room more out of pure rage than any sort of attack plan.

Jaliel knew his old guild master all to well. As soon as Xakot was on his feet the wavemaster had his staff in hand chanting a few lines to himself without bothering to give up. "Giant's might." (9/10 AP_Target:Xakot +2 STR)

The woman let out a half chuckle. "Oh so this is whats its like to live? Already targeted by death." She simply swished her wrist to the side in a lazy manner, her face suddenly devoid of all emotion. With that simple action an strange pixelation occurred scattering the room briefly. It seemed as if nothing had happened, until Kyler's arrow dissolved into a cascade of ones zeros and hexagons. Xakot rammed head first into a semi orb of the same pattern instantly returning the blow in full force and embedding him into the wall with such force it would have killed any player with medium to low stamina. Her attention now turned to Angel, her face still one of slate. "Oh... a level headed human, and logical." The woman seemed to pause as if pondering the question. "I am... and has always been for as long as The World has been. Just like her." She motioned, as if mockingly petting the chained up girl, but avoided actually touching her.

Kyler didn't seem to react to the arrow never reaching the target. Instead the archer turned and moved to assist Xakot. The woman would be dealt with when she wasn't hacking the game. Whoever this was would take a lot more than Kyler had, a lot more than the group had.

Lunar watched in disbelieve. Was it a hack or an ability? She wondered as she got on her feet holding her scythe in more of a defensive manner. "That doesn't answer the question, what are you two?"

"I once had a name, Morgana was it?" She looked down as if staring at the girl would give her the answers. "My purpose was to watch over her. But what was my life to be when she came into The World?" She spoke in riddles, as if the players would understand what had happened before. She looked back up to take in the players, "But now thanks to you i may continue to be." Her eyes flashed briefly, the shadows beneath the players feet lurched up taking in a dimension of their own, the same red orbs acting as the center for their conglomeration. They shifted and swirled taking shape, contorting and writhing. Finally each player stood face to face with an unusual mirror of themselves, save the fact that their veins pulsated with the same ones and zeros that had emerged earlier, the red orbs now in the place of their left eyes. "I will take my leave." The woman stated blankly as she sank back to the shadows vanishing from the room. Each double twitched before lashing out. Berne, Akihiro, and Maverick were instantly impaled by their attackers, unable to even cry out in pain before cracking apart, ones and zeros racing across their forms and collapsing into a cascade of light and shadows.

With Kyler's help Xakot was on his feet again. "What the hell is all this, its all to much for a game." He struggled to keep his own weight up. As the woman spoke, the name Morgana resonated in his ears. It sparked some sort of memory in the back of his mind. Morgana mod Gone it had been whispered about in the early days of The World, but the couldn't place it. Before he could even register it she was gone, he was standing face to face with himself. It struck out, its fist drawn in a speed unrepresentable in the game. It was all he could do to turn and take the blow on his spaulder, sending him sprawling back to the floor again.

Jaliel had all he could take, his quite demeanor broken as he shot out multiple aura blasts at where the woman had been only to hae them dissipate on the wall behind her. He now knelt before himself, as it looked down on him, the gleam of red in its left eye shown all the fears he had ever experienced in his life. Im going to die was all he could think. He swung his staff in reflex striking its shin. But the hexagons where there as well, just above the darkened Jaliel's cloths. It turned slightly, holding its staff above Jaliel. An aura blast erupted from it at point blank, Jaliel returned one as soon as he could resulting in a blinding light. As it cleared both casters where gone, no trace of the two beings where left.

Kyler's double and Kyler both drew arrows and knocked them on bows. The double's arrow flew towards the original, and Kyler had to drop to the ground. Knowing that they would not stand a chance against themselves, but they could if they teamed up. The arrow went from the original target to the next closest, that being Xakot's. The arrow flew, and the archer watched carefully for it to hit.

Lunar Stared at her double. She'd seen enough shows with evil doubles to know, that their abilities where probably even, which would make this fight nearly impossible to win. she mustered up what courage she had, just as her double stroke out at her leg, it was much faster then she expected but she managed to block. the force sent her sliding back several feet.

Angel let out a long stream of curses under her breath. This was a video game, not a tabletop roleplay, of course the moment she tried to get information out of a boss somebody would run in for an attack. And what the hell was with all the binary? Lazy animators? Her eyes hardened as a double of herself appeared in front of her and she immediately threw herself into a roll, moving closer to the others. It took all her self-control not to throw herself into combat, edging closer to Xakot instead. "Enough tricks, bitch. You don't think you can win a fair fight?" Again, it was instinct born of years playing tabletops, but maybe the AI was good enough to react.

Xakot's double caught the arrow with his bare hand. With a crunch the arrow snapped like a twig. Kyler's let the arrow fly pinning the players bow to the wall, burrowing straight through the shaft. With a spin it whipped the bow out like a staff cleanly catching Kyler in the face sending the archer end over end across the floor. Lunar didn't have time to regroup before dark Lunar was already in the air, her scythe poised to behead her original in one strike. The dark macabre dancer flung the fan like a boomerang, it sang through the air like a whirlwind of death right at Angel.

Kyler was well aware of the character strengths. Or lack thereof. So when the arrow didn't hit despite the ridiculous amount of agility, realization dawned that this was a fight they wouldn't win. The bow didn't hit with much force, as Kyler moved quickly enough, but the tumble sent the archer back where the lost weapon was and a quick hand grabbed it as Kyler made her feet again. "We cannot stand and fight, they outpower us," were the only words that left Kyler as another arrow found its way to the bow and was shot with amazing speed towards Xakot's double again.

Lunar barely rolled out of the way, before getting up. She wasn't one for sticking in groups but it seemed like the best option. She took off as fast as her legs would carry her towards the Kyler and Xakot. Her double close behind her.

Those years playing soccer were really coming in handy. The time spent as a goalie had made Angel fearless when it came to throwing herself around. She dove into another roll, the fan of her double slicing through her skirt as it passed but narrowly missing her. "What are we doing, guys?" she asked, placing her back to Kyler and Xakot, hoping that they'd be covering that direction so she'd only have to worry about her front arc. Keeping a defensive stance was wearing at her patience, but she knew better than to charge headfirst into an evenly matched fight. If it really was evenly matched, which she doubted.

The doubles almost seemed to shudder as they suddenly flashed out of sight only to immediately appear around the group encircling them against the wall. Each one had a blank stare of complete emotionlessness. They slowly reached out, the red pulsating lines tracing their arms and weapons as their left eyes became emblazed. The red lights became a static charge cackling and skittering through the air. The energy could be felt in the air as certain death seemed to permeate through the players. Suddenly the chained girls eyes fluttered open. Her irises a ice blue. The players weapons and right hands flashed blue and raced across their bodies consuming them in a stream of blue. Then in an instant they were gone laying unconscious in the streets of .Hack//SotT Mac Anu. The red charge exploded destroying the very ground they had stood on only a second before leaving behind a smoking crater.

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.Hack//SotT Mac Anu
.hack//Shadow of the twilight